The United States, through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has provided an additional $1 million (more than P50 million) in assistance to victims of Typhoon Odette.
Currently, the US government’s support for the Philippines on disaster response has reached $21 million (about P1 billion.)
In Central Visayas and Mindanao, the US earlier provided an additional $19 million (about P950 million in relief aid to communities devastated by the super typhoon.
Part of the financial aid will be used for the provision of food aid, water, sanitation, and hygiene, as well as shelter assistance for communities.
The United Nations earlier increased its fundraising target for victims of typhoon Odette to $169 million as the Philippines struggles to recover from the devastating storm.
More than 400 people were killed and hundreds of thousands left homeless after super typhoon hit the country in December, ripping off roofs, shredding wooden houses and wiping out crops.
The UN initially sought $107.2 million for 530,000 people in the hardest-hit areas in central and southern regions of the country flattened by the typhoon.
But UN Resident Coordinator in the Philippines Gustavo Gonzalez said more than 70 field assessments showed “humanitarian needs remain very high”.
The new target of $169 million would assist the 840,000 “most vulnerable people” in dire need of shelter, food, drinking water and sanitation facilities, Gonzalez said.
About 30 percent of the revised amount had been received, Gonzalez told AFP. Humanitarian groups have been working with the government to distribute aid. But the challenges were “enormous”, said Gonzalez.
